Yankees' Aaron Judge and Juan Soto say they won't participate in Home Run Derby at All-Star Game
Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge and right fielder Juan Soto walk to the dugout against the Cincinnati Reds in a game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, each a past winner of the Home Run Derby, told Newsday on Thursday morning that they are definitive “no’s” when it comes to this year’s event.
Judge, who won the Derby in Miami in 2017 as a rookie in his one and only time competing in it and who has hit an MLB-leading 32 homers, has said in past years that he would compete again only when and if the All-Star Game returns to New York.
“Same answer,” Judge said with a smile in the clubhouse before the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to the Reds at the Stadium. “Only in New York.”
That likely won’t happen again anytime soon, either in the Bronx or Queens.
The Yankees last hosted the All-Star Game in 2008, their final year in the previous iteration of Yankee Stadium. Citi Field hosted the event in 2013 (Mariano Rivera, in his final season, was named the game’s MVP).
Soto, the Derby winner in 2022 in Los Angeles, hit his 21st home run Thursday and said he briefly thought about participating.
But only briefly.
“No, not this year,” Soto said. “I’ve participated twice in my career already. That’s a good amount. For me, that’s it. I won it, I have my trophy, and I’m fine with that.”
Giancarlo Stanton, on the injured list since June 23 with a left hamstring strain but still with the third-highest homer total on the team (18), won the 2016 event in San Diego. Like Soto, he’s done the Derby twice, defending his crown at Marlins Park in 2017. Stanton, who was knocked out that year by the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez in the first round of what was a laser show of a performance by both players, will be out at least another month with the injury.
He said on Thursday that if healthy, he would have at least considered participating this year if he were a member of the AL’s All-Star squad.
Stanton, the 2022 All-Star Game MVP, seriously considered competing in that year’s event at Dodger Stadium, where the Los Angeles native grew up going to games, but ultimately decided against it.